Bill Shorten treads gently with careful climate change plan

The environment has claimed many political victims since the 2007 election.

John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Malcolm Turnbull and even Tony Abbott were all, to an extent, brought down by their response to climate change. And if Scott Morrison is defeated at next month’s election there’s likely to be a mention of the issue in his political epitaph.

Which means Bill Shorten is well aware of the dangers around Labor’s latest climate change approach, which is being made public in the shadow of the federal budget and just six weeks out from an election.

Hence the absence of a carbon tax, the use of safeguard mechanisms which were introduced by Turnbull, the exclusion of agriculture except for where farmers and landholders may be able to turn a buck, handouts to trade-exposed businesses and credits to firms that over-achieve.